


Outside Wstchestr City

by TerresDeBrume



Series: Life in Muted Blue. [1]
Category: Myth - Atlantide, X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fish, Gen, Underwater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-21
Updated: 2011-09-21
Packaged: 2017-10-23 22:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/255684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She raises her left hand at head level, index and middle fingers up, palm turned toward Charles. <i>Wait here.</i> Her right hand come to rest over her stomach, fingers spread and bent to form a sphere with the webbing between her fingers. <i>I’ll catch dinner</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outside Wstchestr City

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the 1s Class Kink Meme on Livejournal and de-anon-ed because I don't know what's going to become of the community, since there's been talk of stopping it.
> 
> ANYWAYS, I hope you'll enjoy this new series of mine, though I don't even know how much I'll write for it x)

Raven’s hands are moving madly, and Charles has trouble following the complex hand-web code used by the Southern Tribe. It’s not that he doesn’t know it –he’s spent enough time with the girl since they hatched to understand her parent’s language perfectly, it’s just that he’s trained so hard to get telepathy right, he’s not sure his eyes are functioning properly anymore.

She raises her left hand at head level, index and middle fingers up, palm turned toward Charles. _Wait here._ Her right hand come to rest over her stomach, fingers spread and bent to form a sphere with the webbing between her fingers. _I’ll catch dinner_.

Charles nods visibly and swims back to the cornice they’ve elected as their refuge for the night. It’s more of a hole in the cliff, about three hundred meters from the surface and a good two hundred meters more until the sea bottom, but it’s a good protection from water currents, and from there at least, they’ll see any visitor –or predator- coming from far away. At his feet, Charles can see the coral reef extending its wonder, tufts of colored anemones fighting for space with the numerous sponges, glowing clown fishes casting their little orange lights amidst the sea fans and the delicate netting of algae, jellyfishes peacefully drifting in the distance.

And there, on the horizon, is Wtchestr, the city they left two days ago, fleeing Charles’ violent stepfather and stepbrother. The city, named for the ancient human sign plate placed at the entrance by the very first man to live here, glows in the distance, and it make the water seem clearer somehow, as if chasing the salt away.  
Charles takes a deep breath, water rushing through his gills, and it makes his fins rise on his arms and on his back, his ochre and silver stripes offering their reflective surface to the last distorted rays of the sun, which makes them shine.

Still, Charles doesn’t hide: he doesn’t need to. Neither Cain nor Kurt value him enough as a punching bag to send dolphin riders on his track, and Raven’s parents died years ago. Nothing’s keeping them in Wtchestr, and nobody’s going to try and force them to stay there either. Danger, if it comes, will not be from the city, that much is certain.  
There are, of course, other things to worry about. The Seahorses Nomads are rumored to steal passing travelers and sell them into slavery to the Clearwater People –how they do that when they’re Saltwater People is beyond Charles’ understanding. And of course, there’s this horde of Sharkmen the citadel guard saw swimming by last month: they rang the gongs then, and everyone had to stay hidden while they passed through the deserted tunnels of the city’s cavern, taking what was left outside with them. Nobody ever dares to oppose to that kind of pillage though, because everybody knows the Sharkmen feed on Fishfolk when they catch one, and being out while they’re here is as good as suicide. Only the Ray Mercenaries dare to associate with the Sharkmen, because their poisoned tails protect them from any kind of attack.

That, and every creature of the ocean know you’re still better off with a Sharkman than with any kind of Eel, even when you’re a Ray.

 

Raven finally comes back from her hunt with two parrot fishes tied to her belt and a pouch full of anemones and sea urchins. They break the fishes necks and eat them raw, careful not to let more blood spill than strictly unavoidable –they really, really don’t want to attract Sharkmen, especially not with someone like Charles. Telepathy is hard to learn, and not everybody who can learn it succeeds. Charles managed to hide his progress from his stepfather, thus their not being followed, but if the Sharkmen or the Seahorses discover what Charles is, there is no telling what they will do to him. Their meal is over quickly enough, and Raven uses the urchins’ spikes to make herself a new sewing needle. She hasn’t got any kind of thread for now, but they’ll pick up algae and human wastes on their way, and then she can start sewing their clothes back together again.

Not that they have much of it, but still. Keeping them would be nice.

They go to sleep soon after their meal is finished, but they don’t really rest that night, waking up at every little noise. Dawn finds them more tired than they were the night before, and it’s Charles who is charged with catching breakfast. He comes back with two starfishes and a bunch of algae that sticks to their tongues and catch between their teeth, but taste awesome. They use what’s left of the anemones to scrub their teeth and, as soon as Raven has unknotted her short, purplish hair and Charles has run a hand through his unnaturally long brown locks, they leave the cornice and swim along the cliff towards the Western Tribe and her reputation of great hospitality.

**Author's Note:**

> For those interested, Raven is based off a [Blue & Gold Damsel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neon_damselfish.jpg)
> 
> And Charles is based off a [Wheeler's Watchman Goby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wheeler%27s_Goby.jpg). As for the why, the colors suited them, and that's about it.


End file.
